Genealogy and the Little Ice Age: The Poor Laws

I am giving a talk this week (11 July 2024) to the Society of Genealogists about Genealogy and the Little Ice Age. You can still register to hear the presentation here.

Among the many results of the climatic change from the bountiful times of the Medieval Warm Period was the widespread migration of people, in many cases to far-flung locations around the globe.

Because of the harsh physical conditions that existed during the ensuing colder Little Ice Age, employment in the agricultural sector was reduced. Large numbers of people, primarily the poor and laboring classes, ended up moving to neighbouring communities and into urban areas in search of new lives.

These shifts into towns and cities resulted in a whole new dynamic in those urban areas. The greater concentration of people with different backgrounds and experiences forced into a large social and cultural melting pot led to interpersonal conflicts, expanded political expression, property ownership changes, spread of diseases and all the other good and bad things that go with city life.

The timing of the Little Ice Age, with the downturn in living conditions and initial widespread death, was the catalyst for more government involvement, some of it to provide welfare for destitute citizens, some of it to control the populace.

Initial efforts through the 16^th century were directed to protecting employers and landholders from the loss of labourers as destitution led to mass migration into towns. It would be decades and intense suffering through the cold period of the Little Ice Age before specific acts to assist the poor were formulated.

All the early Poor Laws attempted to restrict the movement of people and fix wages. They ended up being pretty much ineffective as people invariably went where work was available and employers who needed workers hired anyone they could find.

The Poor Acts of the 1550s were the first to formally address poverty but these laws merely downloaded the responsibility, creating collectors of alms in each parish. Local authorities and residents, primarily the churches, were obliged to request, record, and distribute charitable donations for poor relief.

Note that it was not until the early 16^th century that parishes finally began keeping records of marriages, baptism and burials that could be used to keep track of people. The Poor Laws further provided that each parish would keep a register of all its “impotent, aged, and needy persons” and the aid they received. In all of this legislation, and in the parish lists, then, both to control as well as assist people, it was required that individuals could be identified which then stimulated the use of surnames begun in the 14^th century.

Important Acts of the British Parliament:

·         1349 Ordinance of Labourers

·         1351 Statute of Labourers

·         1388 Statute of Cambridge

·         1494 Vagabonds & Beggars Act

·         1530 Vagabonds Act

·         1536 Act for Punishment of Sturdy Vagabonds & Beggars

·         1547 Vagabonds Act

·         1552 Poor Act

·         1555 Poor Act

·         1563 Act for Relief of the Poor

·         1572 Vagabonds Act

·         1576 Poor Act

·         1597 Act for Relief of the Poor

·         1601 Poor Relief Act

·         1662 Poor Relief Act

·         1722 Workhouse Test Act

·         1782 Gilbert’s Act

Get a copy of my book, Genealogy and the Little Ice Age. Information about it can be found on this website here.